Late checkout possible?

[NewWorld Traveler]

We have a 6pm flight the day of our departure. I was hoping to hit the water park in the morning and return in the early afternoon for a shower before we leave. Is it possible to arrange for a late checkout?

 

[Safari Queen]

I've never gotten this, as the room is always booked and needs to be cleaned. However, if your resort has a gym, you can use that to shower and change.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

The nonDVc resorts may allow you a bit later of a check-out might even charge you something for it.

It never hurts to ask but like PP stated you can always use the shower that's at the resort Gym or some of the pool areas have them as well.

 

[NewWorld Traveler]

Thanks for the info. We will be staying at the Polynesian (first time). Does anyone know if it has gym or pool shower facilities?

 

[pepe of ohio]

We've asked and on a few occasions, gotten a 1pm check out, any later then I believe they charge you half the room rate. If they are busy and jammed packed, I don't think you'll get any. With all the discounts, huge turnover. Like others said, spa area showers.

 

[tinka-belle]

The most I've been allowed is an hour or two (depends on how crowded the resort is), and that is not guaranteed. It's actually housekeeping that approves it, but I call the front desk (call center) from my room first thing in the morning or the day before to inquire. Can't confirm before that time frame.

They can give you more time if they don't need the room for a check in that day, BUT you will be charged for it. Hotels generally charge 1/2 of the full room rate for a "day room", I would assume Disney does the same.

 

[RMulieri]

Most of the time they will give you to 1pm ( non DvC resorts) gratis...after that they eventually charge an extra nights stay..they also don't always grant late checkouts..If the hotel is booked and it is busy , they may not allow it

 

[adventure_woman]

We had 1pm checkout at ASMovies. I had to call and ask for it the day before I think it was (or maybe it was the day of). That was the latest they could do it.

 

[penjen]

Please check out at the time you are assigned or agreed with the front desk. We had a Disser 2 years ago (had lime green mickey's all over window and door) that decided they would make their own checkout time. They kept the door open so they didn't have to use the key.

This was supposed to our room to check into! We waited patiently for a few hours. DH had his laptop and didn't want to check it so he stayed around the resort while DS and I hit Epcot. The family finally left the room at 4pm . We never complained and we quickly got on with the vacation. But this was not a great way to start off the trip!

 

[CleveRocks]

Here's how it works:

The VERY earliest you can request a late check-out is the night before. But in all likelihood, you'll have to wait 'til the morning of your check-out day. The request needs to go through the Housekeeping department ... the front desk has nothing to do with it and has no say in it. Housekeeping can't know in advance whether or not they can accommodate your request.

IF you are granted late check-out (normal check-out time is 11 a.m.), it is free until 1 p.m. For a 3 p.m. check-out, you'll be charged 50% of the nightly rack rate (NOT 50% of any discounted rate you may have). For a check-out any time later than 3 p.m., you'll be charged 100% of the nightly rack rate. Again, this is only IF you are granted it to begin with.

 

[NewWorld Traveler]

Got it -- Thanks!!!!

 

[grimley1968]

We've asked for, and gotten, a late checkout every time we've ever stayed at the Poly. We've never stayed as late as 1 PM, but we did stay in there until around noon before leaving.

Like other posters have mentioned, you could shower in a gym shower. Also, the Poly has restrooms directly underneath the Volcano pool. I can't remember if it also has lockers and showers inside these facilities, though.

Given the complexities, you may wish to do the waterpark a different day than checkout, and just use the Volcano pool on checkout day, and shower before you leave the resort. The Volcano pool is pretty fun in its own right.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

WDW LATE CHECKOUT:

1) DVC rooms (OKW-SSR-VWL-BCV-AKV-BWV, on points) do not allow late

check-outs.
2) Resort late checkouts are permitted by Housekeeping, not the Front Desk.
3) It depends upon
. . . number of check-ins and check-outs that day
. . . occupancy of the resort the night before
. . . how nice you talk to Housekeeping
. . . staffing and/or absenteeism of maids
. . . phase of the moon
4) If allowed,
. . . check-out 11:00am-1:00pm, no charge
. . . check-out 1:00pm-3:00pm, up to 50% of the room rate
. . . check-out 3:00pm or later, up to 100% of room rate
5) Housekeeping decides if you will be charged or not be charged a fee.
6) This is done by the Housekeeping Manager after the room is cleaned.
7) You will know if there is a charge when you see the credit card statement.
8) You can store your luggage with Bell Services.
9) When redy to leave, use the pool restroom or spa to shower & change.

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Pop Century was gracious enough to allow us a 3pm check out in 2007. We were actually booked into three rooms, and my DS and his DGF, both came down with a really bad case of the flu the night before we were supposed to check out. We called the front desk and told them the kids were sick, and asked if they could stay in their room until it was time to board Magic Express to the airport. They were very understanding and supportive. Thankfully we were able to get enough Pepto Bismol in them by the time we needed to get on the bus that the flight home wasn't as bad as it could have been.

 

[ilandrazdsw]

Don't the waterparks have locker rooms and showers???

 

[ElizabethB]

They say it's housekeeping that decides. But, I've never seen housekeeping say yes. Why should they say yes? It makes their life easier to say no. They aren't marketing, so what do they care? Housekeeping, IMO, couldn't care less about whether a guest leaves on a happy note. These days, they don't seem to care if your stay is pleasant while you're there. On our last stay at BWV, I actually had a manager from housekeeping arguing with me late at night when I complained that we had just returned and our room hadn't been made up -- even though we'd been gone for many hours. They said some such nonsense about being out of your room by a certain time or they simply won't clean it. This person even told me that we didn't deserve to be treated well by housekeeping because she could see from our reservation that we had gotten a discount code on our rate!

IMO, as far as housekeeping at Disney is concerned, the inmates are now running the asylum.

I challenge anyone to point to one other reasonably upscale hotel chain (besides Disney) that leaves the granting of late checkout to housekeeping.

I will say this, in my experience, we've had club level concierges override housekeeping from time to time. Other than that, housekeeping makes the decision.

Best advice is what we now do -- we book the room for the night of the day we're leaving. That way we have full access to it for as long as we need it on the day of departure. Expensive yes. But, it saves tons of frustration.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

IMO, as far as housekeeping at Disney is concerned, the inmates are now running the asylum.

I challenge anyone to point to one other reasonably upscale hotel chain (besides Disney) that leaves the granting of late checkout to housekeeping.

I will say this, in my experience, we've had club level concierges override housekeeping from time to time. Other than that, housekeeping makes the decision.

Best advice is what we now do -- we book the room for the night of the day we're leaving. That way we have full access to it for as long as we need it on the day of departure. Expensive yes. But, it saves tons of frustration.

1) Housekeeping has always determined if late checkouts were permitted. Only they have the knowledge of staffing and numbers of rooms to be cleaned.

2) Upscale chains that have Housekeeping determine late checkouts from personal experience are Peabody, Marriott, JW Marriott, Hilton.

3) Concierge does not override Housekeeping. They might be able to convince them to change their mind, but they don't dictate to Housekeeping. If concierge made the call, they might grant it to so many people that the concierge rooms might not be made-up in time for arriving guests, which is a different set of problems.

4) If people want to pay for an extra day just to have late checkout, this is always and option. But, like you said, and expensive option.

 

[ElizabethB]

Thanks for the additional info, Rusty. When you stay at the Peabody, do they make YOU call housekeeping or does the front desk call and check for you?

Somehow, the picture of a guest at the Peabody making that call is laughable. Disney, by contrast, makes the guest call housekeeping, which is always a hopeless exercise, IMO.

I stay at Hyatts and Hiltons and have not run into a situation where housekeeping makes the decision. I also haven't experienced that at Marriotts. Haven't stayed at the Orlando or Memphis Peabody, so can't speak to that.

And, just wondering -- when you say housekeeping has always decided, how many years are you speaking of? Disney hotels have been there since the 70s. I still think it's a relatively new phenomenon that housekeeping is in charge of who gets late checkout.

For example, according to Disney, it's not housekeeping that has decided DVC guests never get late checkout. Disney always says that it is "DVC Owners" who have made the decision about no late checkout. So, who has really made the decision? They didn't send out ballots to all DVC members, contrary to their assertion it was DVC owners. Housekeeping may have weighed in, but the final decision has to have been made by senior hotel management (or even higher up at senior DVC management).

I think it's a cop-out for hotel management to blame the decision on housekeeping. It's a way to shift the blame by saying, "hey, not our fault, please come again." It's easy for hotel management to say, "we're not in charge -- housekeeping is." Right.

For a recent club level stay, we called housekeeping and asked for late checkout and were told no -- emaphatically no. We went to the concierge, she checked for us and was told yes. The number of housekeepers, the number of absences, the number of rooms to be cleaned, the number of guests checking in, etc., could not have changed in the five minutes it took us to walk from the phone in our room to the concierge desk. So, clearly special consideration was given to us as club level guests who paid a lot of money for our stay. The decision is highly subjective. Even if the final decision is made by housekeeping -- they can be "persuaded". Our personal experience proves that.

Whatever. As I said, for our stay a few months ago, we booked an extra night. Expensive, but far less frustrating than negotiating with the inmates about the rules "they" have supposedly made for the asylum.

 

[CapJack]

I do not think you can blame disney on this. Occupancy rates are much higher than regular hotels. Imagine the chaos of checking in if all these late checkouts were allowed. You arrive at disney 1pm you go to check in but cannot. Told come back at 3pm which I believe is check in time and your room is not ready b/c previuos guest just left and room has not been cleaned. This would simply not work. If you need the room book for an extra day or just suck it up and deal with it. Room assignments are made days in advance and would be very tough to make switches to room assignments and these late checkouts would lead to many more inconvenienced guests. IMO some people complain to complain and have a laundry list of demands. Disney does a great job of satisfying guests but you cannot please everybody and some guests will never be pleased. You are at Disney have fun and go with the flow.

 

[ElizabethB]

I blame Disney management for passing the buck to housekeeping. It's a good cop/bad cop thing. The front desk and management can say, "Sorry, nothing we can do about it. It's housekeeping's decision."

They do the same thing at the DVC Resorts. "Sorry, nothing we can do about it. Blame the DVC Owners. They are the ones who decided no late check out."

Right. Everybody know the housekeeping department runs the hotel. And, DVC Owners run the DVC Properties. NOT!

If they have high occupancy, then let management say, "No. You can't have late checkout. And, if that offends you, then don't come back."

They should quit hiding behind housekeeping and DVC owners when instituting a policy that management wants.